Review: "In The Heights" Is The Infusion Of Joy We Need

[TTL News 311]

 

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“I am Usnavi and you prob’ly never heard my name,” declares bodega owner Usnavi at the start of “In the Heights,” Lin-Manuel Miranda’s contagiously joyous ode to his beloved Washington Heights neighborhood. “Reports of my fame are greatly exaggerated.”

Um … maybe not for long. Projects by Miranda tend to attract a wee bit of attention.

Even in the annals of musical theater, by nature filled with Cinderella stories, “In the Heights” has an amazing backstory. It began two decades ago when a college student at Wesleyan had extra time on his hands — his girlfriend was studying abroad — so he started to write a show. A show that represented the Latino immigrant experience as he, son of Puerto Rican parents, saw it. A show that melded the things he loved: hip-hop, Latin music and dance, rap, and of course musical theater.

The kid was Miranda, and “In the Heights” eventually made it all the way to the Tony podium, winning best musical. Of course, Miranda’s own story was just beginning. “Hamilton,” his genre-bending phenomenon, was years away.

 

Read the rest here.

[Andy 70]

Beyond excited to watch this. Preforming in it sophomore year was one of the best memories I have from then 

[Ars76 69]

I love this show! Can't wait to see it!

[Chris 2,190]

I finally watched this a few weeks ago and while it was good, it wasn’t as good as the the kids did at the high school a few years ago. I think the transition to the big screen took something away from it. And it was kinda long.